Kohli set to give up opening slot, will bat No 3

Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli is all set to give up his opening slot and will bat at No 3, a position he has made his own in the national team.

RCB has multiple opening options in Quinton de Kock, Brendon McCullum, Parthiv Patel, Mandeep Singh and Manan Vohra to name a few.

"In the past, it was more or less that I had to. I quite enjoyed that role. Predominantly, I will start at number three, having specialists at that order and that I have done well for Indian team at no 3."
On their decision to let go Chris Gayle, he said: "Taking nothing away from Chris, we decided to go in with the balance that can sustain in the next three years. We did not want to be relying on 2-3 people all the time and those were few reasons behind it."
"We don't have bad records here. It was just a one off game we had here. It was bizarre, very rarely you get out for 49 with that kind of batting."
Looking forward to embrace the challenge, Karthik on his part said: "I will be looking to stay as calm as I can. Lot of times I am sure I will be put under the pump and I have to be able to react in a calm manner without getting too emotional about it."